Despite serving in the United States Navy Special Operations for 17 years, Jon Pounders’ fitness journey did not begin until just a few years ago.

“As a veteran, I was going through a pretty tough time mentally,” dealing with PTSD, depression, and anxiety after serving in the United States as well as abroad in the Middle East.

While on duty in 2013, Jon lost his best friend during a dive job. He remembers crying and pulling his friend out of the water to perform CPR. “Not a day goes by that I don’t relive that scenario,” he discloses solemnly.

After his eldest daughter was born with Short Bowel Syndrome, Jon had to leave his full-time position in active duty to care for her. “I was thrown back into civilian life,” he recalls. “I wasn’t in control of anything; I couldn’t help my daughter or my marriage,” going through the motions and becoming merely a shell of himself. “I turned to alcohol and drugs to compensate, and it almost cost me my life.”

After participating in some rehabilitation programs, Job realized drugs and alcohol were merely bandaids for a much larger issue: depression.

Jon contacted his friend Scooter, who owns HQ Fitness in Hernando, Mississippi. They have been training together thrice weekly for two years, working out via time under tension — using lighter weights for higher and slower reps. “For me, I enjoy the stress and pain of it. If I don’t exert that, it tends to go inwards,” he explains.

For Jon, weightlifting has been a way to channel negative energy into something positive.

“The days you don’t want to show up are the ones you need to show up to the most. For me, the gym has been the only reason I get out of bed on some days,” says Jon. “You have to understand that the pain you will endure is going to help you grow, so just don’t quit.”

Jon chose to workout at HQ Fitness because the owner, Scooter, is faith-driven and not afraid to sit down and talk. “It’s the personal relationship I have with him. During those hour-long training sessions, you really get his full attention, and that’s changed my life.”
Through HQ Fitness, Jon has found a way to help other veterans and non-military folks struggling with PTSD, depression, and addiction, steering them away from self-destructive behaviors and suicide and towards renewed hope.

“Because of Scooter, I now train other veterans and civilian men going through similar issues as I did — having no purpose and not knowing where to turn. I have so many guys who reach out, and I train with them for free just to give them a sense of purpose. A lot of these guys end up secluded and shut out. Knowing I may be their only interaction with somebody that week, and that it’s keeping them going, is a big motivation for me,” of his volunteer work.

Jon has a strong and self-assured, been-there-done-that energy that makes other veterans feel at ease opening up to him. “You watch these guys over time develop this sense of purpose again as their bodies start to change, almost like they’re getting their lives back and can look in the mirror again.” It’s the positive feedback loop that keeps Jon giving, and others living.
“The proof is in the pudding,” he ends with. “I’m in the best shape of my life because of it.”

IG: j_pounders85
FB: jonathan.poundersok

By Shlomit Ovadia
Photos by Tindall Stephens